


Comfort Food

by Melacka



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Lost Love, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25297066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melacka/pseuds/Melacka
Summary: Buffy sighed as she stood outside Giles’ door, taking the time to fix a suitably neutral expression on her face. She knew that her misery had been starting to wear a little thin with her friends, even though they didn’t say anything.Or, Giles invites Buffy over for a conversation about love, grieving and finding happiness. With ice cream. Obviously.
Relationships: Rupert Giles & Buffy Summers
Comments: 14
Kudos: 28
Collections: Summer of Giles





	Comfort Food

Buffy sighed as she stood outside Giles’ door, taking the time to fix a suitably neutral expression on her face. She knew that her misery had been starting to wear a little thin with her friends, even though they didn’t say anything. Nothing direct, anyway. Broad hints were the order of the day, apparently. Angel had been gone less than a week and already her mother was making some hopeful noises about her finding some nice young man to spend time with when she went to college. Emphasis on _young_.

She didn’t know why Giles had asked her to come around that day, but she hoped it wasn’t apocalypse related. She’d been hoping to buy herself a little time before dealing with the next catastrophe. Buffy sighed again and, bland smile firmly in place, knocked on the door. It opened so quickly that she jumped slightly.

“Buffy,” Giles said softly, smiling in greeting. “Come in.”

He stepped away from the door and wandered off to the kitchen without another word. Buffy crossed over the threshold and closed the door behind her. She thought she could hear Giles humming in the kitchen.

“Is everything okay, Giles?” Buffy said cautiously as she took a seat on the sofa.

“Yes, of course,” he called out from the kitchen. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“So, no fresh disasters to deal with?” Buffy prompted. “No new threats we need to get on top of?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Oh,” she breathed, allowing herself to relax a little. “Good.”

“I just thought that we hadn’t really had a chance to talk over what has happened in recent weeks,” he said quietly as he emerged from the kitchen. “I understand that you need your space, of course, and I’ve tried to respect that, but I wanted to reach out to you nonetheless.”

“Right,” Buffy said, looking down at her hands. “It’s just, well, with Faith and the Mayor and the school blowing up and—”

“And Angel?” Giles prompted, placing a bowl and a spoon in front of her on the coffee table.

“And Angel,” Buffy breathed. “A lot has been going on and I just wanted to take a little time to figure myself out.”

“I don’t want you to think me insensitive, Buffy.”

“But it’s time to move on?” Buffy snapped. “Right? That’s what you want to say, isn’t it?”

“Not at all—”

“He was never right for me, anyway, and I need to find some nice normal guy to bring home to my mother?”

“If that’s what you want then I have every confidence that you will find someone who makes you happy,” Giles said calmly. “But there is no rush, Buffy. You have every right to grieve for what you have lost.”

Buffy’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“You think I’m grieving?”

“I _know_ you are, Buffy.” Giles put another bowl down next to the one in front of Buffy and turned to go back to the kitchen. “The first time I fell in love, I was only a little bit older than you are now. It was someone I met at university and I was swept up by the thrill of it all. I’d never felt anything like it.”

“Really?” Buffy said, a little bemused by the sudden shift in the conversation. “What happened?”

“Oh, nothing much, really,” he said dismissively as he came back into the room. “We were together for a time and then I had my heart so catastrophically broken that it took me months to recover.”

“Oh,” Buffy said dully. “I’m sorry.”

Giles smiled at her and placed two tubs of ice cream on the table before he sat down next to her on the sofa.

“I don’t tell you this to garner sympathy, Buffy. I have regrets enough from my youth but loving her was not one of them. At the time, I must admit that it was hard to see a way that I could ever find happiness again.”

Buffy nodded miserably and said, “I know the feeling.”

“I’m not sure we ever really get over the people we have loved, Buffy,” Giles said softly, squeezing her shoulder slightly in comfort. “We carry the love with us throughout the rest of our lives. And these people may not mean what they used to as we go forward, but they will always have a place in our histories, if not in our hearts.”

Buffy felt tears in her eyes, and she ducked her head quickly, embarrassed.

“I think we all know how much you and Angel loved each other, Buffy,” Giles continued. “And there is no shame in grieving a lost love.”

Buffy let out a sob and Giles pulled her into his arms, hugging her firmly. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as Buffy tried to control herself.

“You will find a way to be happy again, Buffy,” Giles murmured in her ear. “You will survive this.”

“I don’t know how.”

“We never know how, Buffy. Not when it first happens. But you are strong, and you are capable, and you are _deserving_ of love. You _will_ find it again.”

“You promise?” Buffy whispered, pulling back to look at him.

“I promise. You don’t need to forget Angel or what he meant to you. I don’t think you ever could, really. You just need to find a way to move forward in your life without punishing yourself for what has happened in the past.”

Giles handed her a handkerchief and she dabbed at her eyes self-consciously. He smiled at her reassuringly and then leaned forward to open the tubs of ice cream. Buffy watched him, a small smile tugging at her lips.

“Ice cream, Giles?”

“I thought the situation warranted some comfort food,” he said, sounding a little embarrassed. “I asked Willow for a recommendation on flavours.”

Buffy glanced at the ice cream and grinned, he had bought two of her favourite flavours. He scooped some of each flavour into both bowls and then held one out to her in invitation. She took it gratefully, trying to convey what she was feeling in her smile. Giles smiled at her and raised his bowl in salute.

“To our lost loves.”

Buffy raised hers in response and said, “And to our future happiness.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to anyone who reads/leaves kudos/comments. I do so appreciate it!


End file.
